National Gallery Presents Three New Loans: Picasso Blue Period, Hartley Abstract, Monet Waterlilies
The Facts
On August 1, 2026, the National Gallery in London announced three new loans on display from early August. The loans include Marsden Hartley's 'Painting No. 50' (1914–15), an early abstract work from his 'Amerika' series, on loan from the Terra Foundation for American Art as part of the Terra Collection-in-Residence programme. Pablo Picasso's 'Portrait of Germaine' (1902), the only Blue Period work currently on view in a London museum, and Claude Monet's 'Waterlilies' (1905) are both on loan from the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection. The Monet joins three other waterlily works in Room 46, devoted to late Monet. The Hartley hangs in Room 45 alongside works by Cezanne, Degas, and Bellows, including 'Men of the Docks' (1912). The National Gallery also extended its summer hours from July 3 to August 31, remaining open until 7 p.m. daily and until 9 p.m. on Fridays.
The Signal
The loans strategically enrich the National Gallery's permanent collection with rare works that bridge American modernism and European avant-garde movements. Hartley's abstract painting, influenced by Der Blaue Reiter group, offers a transatlantic counterpoint to the gallery's existing holdings and previews the upcoming exhibition 'German Expressionism: Modern Painting 1900–1918' in March 2027. The Picasso Blue Period portrait, a highlight of the artist's early career, provides London audiences with a rare opportunity to see this pivotal phase outside of major Picasso museums. For collectors, these loans signal the growing importance of cross-institutional partnerships like the Terra Collection-in-Residence, which places American art in dialogue with European collections, and the continued prominence of the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection as a source for major loans.
- Artists: Marsden Hartley, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet
- People: Kenneth C. Griffin
- Museums: National Gallery
- Locations: London
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